President's Letter
ALUMNI NEWS MAGAZINE | Summer 2024
When I last wrote to you in our fall issue of the magazine, we were wrapping up celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Alumni News and all the amazing alumni stories, successes and growth captured over the last century. Now, I’m so thrilled to be sharing another remarkable milestone with you. This spring, as we welcomed our newest graduates across the stage at Encaenia and Convocation, we also celebrated our alumni family growing to 100,000 members!
The milestone was reached during our third Encaenia ceremony on the Fredericton campus. With it brought great excitement and celebration as we formally recognized the significance of not only growing in numbers, but in impact. Across the globe, 100,000 UNB alumni are collectively making a difference in their communities and in their professions. Now how’s that for #ProudlyUNB! We hope you share this exciting update within your circles, and help spread the word that UNBers, like you, are a positive force.
We certainly saw this firsthand at our 2024 Proudly UNB awards dinner on April 5, where we recognized the accomplishments of 11 UNB alumni. Our honourees are leaders in law, education, health care, business, sports, science, and engineering — and as always, I was left feeling fascinated and inspired by their heartwarming experiences. You can read more about our Proudly UNB award recipients in this issue.
Later that weekend, we also officially reopened the Alumni Lounge and Presidents’ Tartan in the Alumni Memorial Building on the Fredericton campus. This building and the spaces in it are a testament to the generosity with which UNB alumni have long supported their alma mater. The recent renovation will ensure that the Alumni Lounge and Presidents’ Tartan Room will be a welcoming space for university gatherings for years to come. In fact, we opened these two spaces to students as a study space during exam week, bringing the rooms back to their original purpose. Thank you to all of the donors and supporters who were instrumental in bringing this exciting project to fruition.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Saint John campus and the 50th anniversary of the first alumni who graduated from UNB Saint John. This is also the year we introduce an exciting new tradition on our Saint John campus — our first Alumni Weekend will take place Sept. 20 to 21, 2024! We are thrilled to welcome our alumni back to campus for a weekend of events, and to gather and reminisce with members of our first grad class of 1974. We hope to see you there! Registration for Alumni Weekend can be found online at unb.ca/alumni/events/reunions/reunion-weekend.html.
As you can see, there is lots of exciting change, growth and connection happening for the Associated Alumni. I look forward to connecting with you, hearing your stories and sharing my pride in our alumni family — 100,000 strong!
Jennifer Sutherland Green (LLB'99)
